How Does Henry Fleming Show Courage

Henry is trying to show how one’s default or natural response to the hardships they were facing at the hands of British rule might be to turn their head the other way.

Henry hated to be ridiculed so badly that he abandoned the poor man who only showed care and concern for Henry. A hero doesn't abandon a fellow soldier in desperate need of help. Henry tries to reassure his confidence by asking other soldiers how they would respond to battle. Jim Conklin honestly said that it depended on the circumstances, "but if everyone was a standing and a fighting, why, I'd stand and fight."(Crane Ch.1) When he asked Wilson, Wilson dismissed the notion of running from battle. Henry was trying to look for someone to relate to, but as a result of questioning his fellow soldiers he further isolated his insecurities of battle.

War can force young soldiers to grow up quickly. In The Red Badge of Courage, Henry Fleming is no exception. He enters the war with romanticized ideas of what war is like, and leaves with those ideas very much changed.

Moving closer to the battle, Henry, the rookie private with a lack of self-confidence and courage, starts thinking if he should run away from a battle or fight in the battle. With a lack of war experience, he feels insecure going to battle and does not know what to do. He starts to ask his fellow soldiers on their thoughts and opinions about running away from a battle as he felt cowardliness of doing so. He also asked one

Henry Fleming enlists as a youth with heroic fantasies of battle lingering in his mind and walks off the "place of blood and wrath" three days later a serene veteran of battle. He came from hot plowshares seeking a Homeric Iliad, timid and anxious about his potential and what others think of him. He ponders a great dilemma: will he run from battle? He is reassured after asking the tall soldier his question. His friend tells him that he would do what the rest of the regiment was doing. Henry is not an individual yet, he is a

Henry Fleming (the youth) is the main character in the book Red Badge of Courage. Henry enlists in the Union Army during the US Civil War at a very young age and fights alongside other Union soldiers in his first battle. However when faced with an immediate second battle Henry decides to run and desert his unit. Henry is so tramatized by the dead and wounded soldiers that he sees during his first conflict that he cannot accept walking straight into his own death. So he runs away as fast as he can to save himself.

Henry Fleming, also known as “The Youth” in the book, was a young soldier heading out for war with excitement and pride. Little does Henry know what awaits him in a war in which brothers fought against brothers and fathers against their sons. How the cruelty of war may take his innocent mind and transform it into something gruesome and horrid in which he may have never expected, yet mold him into a man who can say that he’s seen it all.

Imagination is a wonderful way to explore the unknown situations a person has not experienced yet. Henry Fleming imagined a lot in The Red Badge of Courage giving him an abundance of different feelings and consequences. The decisions made due to stress, exhilaration, curiosity, and fear changed the youth in many ways. In the following paragraphs, Henry’s actions and thoughts will be discussed and broken down, giving a possible explanation into why he chose his actions during the first and second battle.

Henry’s impetus action foregrounds his immaturity as he ‘didn’t consider’ the decision fully, not acknowledging the risk involved. This immaturity is in stark contrast to the steadfast, resolute behaviour exhibited by the soldiers through the novel on countless occasions. Henry showed a careless and unnecessary disregard for his own safety, unlike that of the soldiers where their risk-taking was

It talks about his backstory, how he came to write the novel, and how he influenced others. Then, the article goes into the book, telling the general idea behind it. The article shows that the novel is not a conventional war story because of Henry’s actions. This essay flat out says the theme, “The Red Badge of Courage is not a conventional historical novel”(The 100 best novels). This article wants the reader to know this point is true. A typical novel wouldn’t have the main character running away from the enemy, however, this is exactly what Henry did, “he, too, threw his gun down and fled. There was no shame in his face. He ran like a rabbit”(42). As soon as one man started to run away, Henry was right behind him, running even faster. That's not what a war hero is supposed to do! He should be fighting the battle, not running away from it. Again an essay states that Henry is not confident in war, “when fighting breaks out around him, Fleming’s courage deserts him”(The 100 best novels). A classic war character has courage and valor even when in the face of the enemy but Henry has neither. When the battle starts Henry loses his hope, “the noises of the battle were like stones; he believed himself liable to be crushed”(43). Once more Henry is not a great soldier, although he does become one. Henry eventually becomes a good soldier but he is not a natural like most conventional war stories. With Henry losing courage and running away, The Red Badge of Courage is not a classic war

Henry wants to be the hero but he doesn’t think the war is really coming.He thinks that join the army has proved his bravery already,sometimes the people makes him think he is a hero now.He had, of course, dreamed of battles all his life--of vague and bloody conflicts that had thrilled him with their sweep and fire. In visions he had seen himself in many struggles. He had imagined peoples secure in the shadow of his eagle-eyed prowess,…but it, he thought, had been long gone over the horizon and had disappeared forever(chapter

“The Youth,” which Henry is referred to as, dreamt of glory in battle and being a hero (Crane 2). That is the reason why Henry enlisted himself; even though he told his comrades he was forced to be in the army. His mother’s farewell speech is ironic because he thought that she would give him a tearful and long speech, but all she really said was to “Watch out, and be a good boy” (4). She does not want Henry to be a hero even though that is what he went to war for. She told Henry that she will be fine if he does not return home. Henry tries to pull off being a confident and good soldier, while in the reality he is very nervous about what will happen in battle. Throughout the novel, he questions his courage and if he would run from battle. At an early battle, Henry continuously fires at the enemy line and feels like he is a courageous soldier. However, soon after this battle, another one erupts and Henry runs from it. This is

War forces young soldiers to grow up quickly. In Stephen Crane’s Civil War novel, The Red Badge of Courage, Henry Fleming is no exception. He is faced with the hard reality of war and this forces him to readjust his romantic beliefs about war. Through the novel, the reader can trace the growth and development of Henry through these four stages: (1) romanticizing war and the heroic role each soldier plays, (2) facing the realities of war, (3) lying to himself to maintain his self-importance, and (4) realistic awareness of his abilities and place in life. Through Henry’s experiences in his path to self-discovery, he is strongly affected by events that help shape his ideology of war, death,

He is a farmer boy, who never has left the life of a farmer, that desires to be a strong soldier. Henry Fleming doesn't understand himself very well but he does view himself greater than he is. “With the light of excitement and expectancy in his eyes..” (Crane, Page 4) He is very self-absorbed young man. The beauty of nature is described throughout the novel in Henry’s changing perspective from romantic to naturalistic. Henry views nature as beautiful and harmonic. This affects how Henry views himself because it impacts Henry’s view on fighting. The battle goes on, even if there are many fallen soldiers. Henry comes to the understanding that he is just another soldier in the place of a

The first steps in war are the steps of overcoming the line of comfort by solving the self-centered beliefs that will break you in a battlefront. Once overcoming those selfish traits and believe in yourself, that is when one flourish on the battle field. Henry Fleming's urge for war was short lived when he was put on the frontline. Henry Fleming was a fearful, coward, who always gained self-control and self-comfort by